Big Red Bash Day 1

We had arranged to meet our camping crew at 9:30 in the morning so it was pack up, empty toilet cassette and fill the water tanks to the brim. We still have the water leak issue so will be very careful to keep the water pump off until we need it. We met the crew in town and took off to the bash site which was 33 km out of town in the shadow of the Big Red sand dune.

We were one of the later groups to arrive so are out on the outer ring. The ground had been graded so was nice and flat but pure dirt so every time you move there is a cloud of dust. There are 10 000 people in attendance out in the middle of a dust bowl. Some of the camping set ups are very elaborate and a large majority of group sites have some sort of decorating theme.

It was an amazing day so the shorts got an outing for the first time. After we had set up and got everything sorted we packed up a bag of essential supplies (gin and borboun pre mixes) and took our camping chairs down to the performing area. People who had been there before had really sussed out elaborate ways to get the chairs, eskys and food down to performances and most people stayed put from midday until the last performance finished at 8pm.

It was such a cool afternoon listening to great music, watching large family groups hanging out with the kids spending time playing in the dirt and sliding down the sand dune. There were plenty of food options so we had a late afternoon snack watching the last act of the afternoon as the sun went down.

We came back to the caravan to put on warmer clothes and grab so more food and then went back for the last act (Chocolate Starfish) which did covers of Meatloaf, Queen and INXS. We went into the mosh pit so spent the last hour singing and dancing. Back to the camp to share the communal fires and share what happened across the day.

It was mind blowing thinking about the logistics of getting this event happening and the army of volunteers making sure everything worked so smoothly. There are composting toilets in each neighbourhood and also large sets down at the concert area. A great range of food trucks offering everything from a pie to a vegan hamburger and 12 different music acts across the 3 days.Read more